Page 72 of EverGreene
I’d seen a roadside sign a couple of miles back, informing drivers of a rest area five miles ahead, meaning we should be getting close. “Gee, Nevermore, I didn’t take you to be the shy type.”
Ever blushed, fixing her coat that had bunched up in her throes of passion. She was doing her best to act as though she hadn’t just had an explosive orgasm less than a foot away from me. She’d never been the greatest liar.
“Can I see this?” Ever pointed to my phone, resting in the center console organizer. I’d hoped she’d ask to see it, because it housed a whole lot of nothing of the information she was looking for. “My phone is about to die, and I need to check something.”
And there’s another lie.
“If you wanted to spy on me like a jealous girlfriend, you could just say so.”
Ever rolled her eyes. “Never mind.”
“No, really. It’s fine. The pin to get in is 1001.”
“Really? You might as well have made it 1234. Someone is going to guess that.”
I can’t help that your birthday didn’t result in a more complicated four-digit combination.
“Go ahead. Thumb through it if you want.” I picked up the phone and held it out to her, appearing as unbothered as I felt.
Her brows knitted together as though disappointed that I wasn’t putting up a fight like she clearly wanted me to.
“That’s okay. I don’t need it now. I just remembered the thing I was going to look up.”
“Really? That’s convenient. What was that thing?”
“Why are you so nosy?”
“You asked me whether you could go through my phone, and you’re callingmenosy?”
“First of all, I didn’t ask to go through your phone, only to check something. If you needed to use my phone for something, I wouldn’t give you the third degree.”
“Okay.” I laughed, nodding at a field of cattle off in the distance. “See that? There’s less bullshit out there than there is in here.”
“Cute.”
“It’s all good, Nevermore. You can just admit you’re scared because you felt something when we were standing together on my balcony, and now you want to make sure you don’t have competition.”
“The only thing I felt was the frigid Midwest air stabbing my skin with tiny, invisible, why-the-hell-people-live-here daggers.”
Ahead, the exit for the rest area came into view. I pulled off the road, finding a spot in the parking lot of the crowded plaza between the bathrooms and a chain burger joint. The moment I put the vehicle in park, Ever threw the passenger door open and stepped down onto the pavement. She was just about to shut the door when I said, “It scares me, too.”
Her mouth opened and closed as though she were about to say something, but the words wouldn’t come out. All she could do was stare at me in disbelief before she shut the door and hurried into the bathroom.
There it was, a fucking admission of my feelings to her, and all I got was a door slammed in my face. In my entire life, I never thought I would be in competition with myself for the affections of a girl. And I was kicking my own ass. I removed the burner phone from my coat pocket, smirking as I read the message she’d sent to V.
Abort mission, asshole.
Cautiously, I looked up at the door Ever had walked into, making sure she wasn’t already walking out before typing a response.
Enjoy your flight, little bird?
Seconds later, Ever responded, unamused.
You’re a bastard.
Is that any way to talk to someone who just made you come without touching you?
Yeah. You made me have an explosive orgasm in the passenger seat of my coworker’s Lexus.
